Central agencies like ED are aimed at destroying cooperative sector in Kerala: CM Vijayan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday accused central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of targeting the cooperative sector banks in the state while turning a blind-eye to large-scale financial irregularities in other parts of the country.
Vijayan alleged that agencies like the ED were coming to Kerala to portray something being wrong with the cooperative banks here, with the "ill-intention" of destroying the sector.
The CM said that such politically motivated moves would neither be accepted nor permitted in the state.
He was speaking after inaugurating a conference here on the topic of protecting the cooperative sector.
Vijayan said there were deposits worth over Rs 2.5 lakh crore in cooperative sector banks in the state which were functioning efficiently and professionally.
"With the aim of destroying this sector, central agencies are coming here," he alleged.
Referring to the Karuvannur bank scam, Vijayan said that once the corruption in that establishment was revealed, both the cooperation department and the police had taken action.
While action was taken against the culprits, the government did not shut down the bank but tried to support it in order to safeguard the trust the people have on cooperative banks, he said.
"However, the ED rushed to the place as if it had found something new. It wanted to show that irregularities were taking place in the cooperative sector in the state with the aim of destroying it. That we cannot accept or allow," the CM alleged.
"Instead of investigating large-scale irregularities in other parts of the country where no action has been taken by the state governments, it is coming here," he further alleged.
Vijayan also claimed that the ED is an agency that has been severely criticised by many top courts of the country.
He said that various public sector banks in the country had over Rs 66 lakh crore worth non-performing assets and, of those, around Rs 16 lakh crore was waived off by the central government.
"These huge irregularities were committed by those at the helm of huge corporate companies. They committed the frauds and escaped to foreign nations," Vijayan said.
He further alleged that 15 per cent of such businessmen are those with links to the BJP at the Centre.
"Therefore, they are safe. No one questions them. There are some banks who are complicit in such activities, but the ED never sees them, never reaches them and does not question them.
"Instead, it targets the cooperative sector banks which are the backbone of our state. This is not acceptable and will be opposed," Vijayan said.
He called upon everyone to come together as one and oppose such activities of central agencies like ED.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the multi-crore Karuvannur bank scam, has arrested a local CPI(M) leader and Wadakkanchery Municipal Councillor P R Aravindakshan.
The agency also arrested a former employee of the bank C K Jills, who allegedly syphoned off Rs 5 crore in bank funds.
The ED had earlier arrested two people in connection with the alleged issuance of 'benami' loans from the bank.
On September 11, CPI(M) leader and MLA A C Moideen was interrogated for over nine hours by the ED.
The investigation into the alleged fraud, beginning in 2010 in the Thrissur-based bank, stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (crime branch) in Thrissur.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
